Iowa quarterback Cade McNamara has been fully cleared, handling summer conditioning ‘very well’

PLEASANT HILL — Iowa quarterback Cade McNamara has been fully cleared for football, he indicated to The Gazette on Sunday ahead of a charity softball game between Iowa and Iowa State’s NIL collectives.

“We’re really close to camp now,” McNamara said at the event, which benefits the Iowa chapter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation. “The football and the conditioning and everything’s ramping up, and my body has been handling it very well. So I’m in a place where I want to be, and it’s just about maintaining that.”

McNamara’s comments come less than a week after his teammates also spoke highly of his condition. Wide receiver Kaleb Brown said last week that McNamara is “moving around and more active” than before.

McNamara was limited during spring practices as he recovered from last year’s season-ending ACL injury. The hope for Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz going into spring practices was that McNamara would be at “full speed” by this month.

Ferentz said last month that “if (Cade McNamara is) healthy, he’s our starter.” Iowa’s other options at quarterback include former Northwestern quarterback Brendan Sullivan, who started eight games in three years with the Wildcats before transferring to Iowa this spring.

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com

Sign up for our curated Iowa Hawkeyes athletics newsletter at thegazette.com/hawks.